Serena Williams Marches On at Indian Wells to meet Halep in QF

World No. 1 Serena Williams continued her quest for a third BNP Paribas Open crown after dismissing qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round on Tuesday.
The 34 year old, who lifted the Indian Wells crown in 1999 (d. Graf) and 2001 (d. Clijsters), fired seven aces over the match spanning 72 minutes on Stadium 1. The 21-time Grand Slam champion improves 3-0 against the Ukrainian and will play defending champion Simona Halep for a place in the semifinals.

"I really like her game," said Williams about Halep. "I like how she's aggressive. She's a fighter. I definitely have to be ready.

"It'll be a really good match I think for both of us to kind of see where we want to be at at this point in the year."


The Romanian Halep advanced to third straight quarterfinal in the desert after Barbora Strycova retired from their fourth-round clash while trailing 3-6, 0-1.

"I expect a tough one, of course," said Halep about Williams. "She's very strong. I know her pretty well. We played each other many times."

Williams leads their head-to-head series 6-1. In their most recent meeting, Williams defeated Halep 6-3, 7-6(5) in the 2015 Western & Southern Open final in Cincinnati.

"I know that it's gonna be tough to win, but still, I have my chance," added Halep. "I believe that I have my chance, and I just have to go to play my best, to try everything to win.

"I think I have to do my game like I did every day since I came to the U.S.: aggressive, not very strong. I don't hit very strong. I just take the ball fast. I move well. I hit with confidence. Also, the serve is going well.

"So I feel okay. I feel that I have the game to play against her. We will see tomorrow. It's tough. I repeat that, because it's normal to be tough. She's No. 1 in the world."

Source: BNP Paribas Open